GEARING – PRERAID
GEARING PHILOSOPHY
I will not provide a BiS list; the reason is that loot is a very dynamic beast. Not only are there Warforged and Sockets
that throw constant curve balls, in Legion there is additionally multiple ranks of Warforged including Titanforged (15
or more item level increases) which can cause even a random dungeon from a world quest or heroic dungeon to turn
into a “BiS-level” item. Instead, I will provide a few other ways to evaluate gear upgrades.
The easiest way to evaluate gear is probably using stat weights and an in-game add-on like Pawn that calculates the
value of stats on a gear and show you how much a given piece would be an upgrade.
The problem is deciding on these stat weights, as they depend to a very large degree on your current itemization and
what fight type/talent setup you are using. I recommend simulating this (using Simulationcraft.org) yourself
whenever you have changed a few gear pieces to update your personal weights. (A guide is available here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/51a4p1/guide_to_simcrafting_dps/)
A more general approach to gear is to calculate stat ratios and then you can just compare “I have more Crit than the
ratio; I need more of something else for the next piece). For Pre-raid gear that means that, you want roughly 4.4
times more Crit than haste, and 30% more of Mastery and Vers than Haste. In terms that are more absolute, you
ideally want to have more than 7k crit rating, and then balance the other ratios at around 2k, with a bias towards
Mastery. As your gear advances past this point, you want to prioritize Mastery. Therefore the start priority looks
something like Crit (until 8k) > Mastery > Crit (over 8k) = Versatility > Haste. All the stats are fine however (the actual
value difference between them is very small) so do not feel too disappointed if you get a piece with suboptimal stats.
The ideal stat distribution for heroic will be more akin to this: 8k critical strike, 1k haste, 7k mastery, 1.1k versatility
when disregarding trinkets. NOTE: These stats do not represent breakpoints, but simply the ratio between the
stats. In addition, it is only perfectly accurate for an average set of heroic gear (~17k sum of secondaries). If you
have a larger total of stat, the numbers change accordingly. They key to take away from this is that you want to
balance your Crit and Mastery – but also have a smaller amount of the other stats, all stats are therefore desirable.
SOME PIECES TO LOOK OUT FOR (PRE-RAID/FROM M+)
In Legion, there are many items with unique effects or smaller set bonuses. I will list a few here that you should keep
special track off, as they will contribute more than other items at similar item level.
Jacin’s Ruse is a set, which consists of Gloves (Guileful Intruder Handguards) & Boots (Tunnel Trudger Footguards). It
has a two set bonus that procs 3000 mastery for 15 seconds with one rppm. It is a very strong set bonus, and these
pieces (that drops in Court of Stars & the Arcway respectively) are something you should ideally aim at getting.
Mythic+ gear can scale all the way up to raid equivalent, so if you can get hold of a decent pair of these they might
be one of the better choices for quite a long while.
Sylvan Maelstrom Amulet is a crafted neck for Druids only. It always come with a socket, as well as a unique equip
effect: “Increase Versatility by 1000 when outdoors”. Emerald Nightmare is an outdoor raid, and this item is
upgradable with Obliterum up to 850. It is a good neck and worth keeping in mind. All jewellery greatly powers up by
having a socket, and for that reason, the crafted one (that has a guaranteed one) can compete very well. In addition,
most of Emerald Nightmare is outdoors. For Jewellery, in general it is important to note that secondary stats
represents the whole value, and item level is not as good of an indication as it is for other pieces.
Journey through Time is a set, which consists of the neck Strand of the Stars and the trinket Chrono Shard. Chrono
Shard has a chance to proc a large amount of haste and a small movement speed increase for 10 seconds on a
1rrpm. The set bonus increases the power of this proc by an additional 1000 haste and 30% movement speed. This
set is fine if you can get hold of it, but Chrono Shard is not an amazing trinket for us and while the set makes it,
decent giving up both a neck (such as the crafted one) and a trinket slot is a pretty tall ask.
Another interesting set is March of the Legion, which consists of a neck (Chain of Scorched Bones) and a ring (Ring of
Looming Menace). The set bonus has a chance to proc additional fire damage when attacking Demons. This is a